It's now our problem, too

The government is in the midst of an epic bailout of private industry. It is clearly in the public’s interest to rescue the ailing firms. Many have asked, “if we don’t share the gains, why should we share the losses?” The problem with this statement is that it ignores that we have shared in the gains all along. Even people whom are not retail investors often own pensions containing broad market indices. Companies like AIG are part of these indices and do business with many members of the indices. If they are allowed to fail, they will hurt Main Street even if Main Street does not know it. So, we must come to their aide. Hopefully, the government will be able to profit from the process.